Aphorism
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An aphorism (from
The concept is generally distinct from those of an
; although some of these concepts may be construed as types of aphorism.Often, aphorisms are distinguished from other short sayings by the need for interpretation to make sense of them. In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui defined an aphorism as "a short saying that requires interpretation".[2]
A famous example is:
It is not possible to step into the same river twice.
History
The word was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, a long series of propositions concerning the symptoms and diagnosis of disease and the art of healing and medicine.[3] The often-cited first sentence of this work is: "Ὁ βίος βραχύς, δὲ τέχνη μακρή" - "life is short, art is long", usually reversed in order (Ars longa, vita brevis).
This aphorism was later applied or adapted to
Aphorisms are distinct from
Literature
Aphoristic collections, sometimes known as
The first noted published collection of aphorisms is Adagia by Erasmus. Other important early aphorists were Baltasar Gracián, François de La Rochefoucauld, and Blaise Pascal.
Two influential collections of aphorisms published in the twentieth century were Unkempt Thoughts by Stanisław Jerzy Lec (in Polish) and Itch of Wisdom by Mikhail Turovsky (in Russian and English).[4]
Society
Many societies have traditional sages or
Misquoted or misadvised aphorisms are frequently used as a source of humour; for instance, wordplays of aphorisms appear in the works of P. G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, and Douglas Adams. Aphorisms being misquoted by sports players, coaches, and commentators form the basis of Private Eye's Colemanballs section.
Philosophy
Professor of Humanities Andrew Hui, author of A Theory of the Aphorism offered the following definition of an aphorism: "a short saying that requires interpretation".[2] Hui showed that some of the earliest philosophical texts from traditions around the world used an aphoristic style. Some of the earliest texts in the western philosophical canon feature short statements requiring interpretation, as seen in the Pre-Socratics like Heraclitus and Parmenides. In early Hindu literature, the Vedas were composed of many aphorisms. Likewise, in early Chinese philosophy, Taoist texts like the Tao Te Ching and the Confucian Analects relied on an aphoristic style. Francis Bacon, Blaise Pascal, Desiderius Erasmus, and Friedrich Nietzsche rank among some of the most notable philosophers who employed them in the modern era.
Andrew Hui argued that aphorisms played an important role in the history of philosophy, influencing the favored mediums of philosophical traditions. He argued for example, that the Platonic
Aphorists
- Georges Bataille
- George E. P. Box
- Jean Baudrillard
- Ambrose Bierce (The Devil's Dictionary)
- Nicolás Gómez Dávila (Escolios a un texto implícito)
- Theodor W. Adorno (Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life)
- F. H. Bradley
- Malcolm de Chazal
- Emil Cioran
- Arkady Davidowitz
- Desiderius Erasmus
- Gustave Flaubert (Dictionary of Received Ideas)
- Benjamin Franklin
- Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro
- Robert A. Heinlein (The Notebooks of Lazarus Long)
- Edmond Jabès
- Tomáš Janovic
- Joseph Joubert
- Franz Kafka
- Karl Kraus
- Stanisław Jerzy Lec
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
- Andrzej Majewski
- El Conde Lucanor)[citation needed]
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Mark Miremont
- Oiva Paloheimo
- Dorothy Parker
- Patanjali
- Petar II Petrović-Njegoš
- Faina Ranevskaya
- François de La Rochefoucauld
- George Santayana
- Arthur Schopenhauer
- Seneca the Younger[citation needed]
- George Bernard Shaw
- Mikhail Turovsky
- Lev Shestov
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Bed of Procrustes)
- Lao Tze
- Voltaire
- Wasif Ali Wasif
- Oscar Wilde
- Alexander Woollcott
- Burchard of Worms
- Cheng Yen (Jing Si Aphorism)
- Sun Tzu
See also
- Adage
- Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus
- Brocard
- Chiasmus
- Cliché
- Epigram
- Epitaph
- French moralists
- Gospel of Thomas
- Greguería
- Legal maxim
- Mahavakya
- Maxim
- Platitude
- Proverb
- Pseudo-Phocylides
- Sacred Scripture:
- Book of Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Hidden Words
- Wisdom of Sirach
- Saying
- Sūtra
- The Triads of Ireland, and the Welsh Triads
References
- ^ Definition of Aphorism from the Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ ISBN 9780691188959.
- ^ a b public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aphorism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 165. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Заголовок (2003-06-30). ЗАЛОЖНИК ВЕЧНОСТИ Михаил Туровский/ЗАЛОЖНИК ВЕЧНОСТИ Михаил Туровский (in Russian). Peoples.ru. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
Further reading
- ISBN 9781608197620.
- Gopnik, Adam, "Brevity, Soul, Wit: The art of the aphorism" (includes discussion of Andrew Hui, A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter, Princeton, 2019), The New Yorker, 22 July 2019, pp. 67–69. "The aphorism [...] is [...] always an epitome, and seeks an essence. The ability to elide the extraneous is what makes the aphorism bite, but the possibility of inferring backward to a missing text is what makes the aphorism poetic." (p.69.)
- Wikidata Q19045853
External links
- (in English and Arabic) Commentary on Hippocrates' Aphorisms